The Duchess Amsterdam: Pasta in a Former Bank Hall

I did not expect to love the pasta at The Duchess in Amsterdam as much as I did. Every dish we ordered was excellent and full of flavour, and the pastas were the best part of the meal.

The Duchess is part of the W Amsterdam, but not in the building we stayed in. We slept in the Exchange, the former telephone exchange, and crossed Spuistraat to the Bank, the former KAS Bank building, for dinner.

The Duchess at a Glance
📍 Where · Spuistraat 172, in the Bank building of the W Amsterdam, just behind the Royal Palace.
🏛️ The room · The former KAS Bank banking hall — marble columns, rings of hanging bulbs, a standing clock and an open kitchen behind glass.
🍝 Order · The pastas: hand-crafted ribbons with braised short rib (the winner), and linguine cacio e pepe a close second.
💶 Worth knowing · Fine-dining prices (mains ~€27–35); the prawns aren’t worth €23, and a 12.5% service charge is added automatically.
🍸 Drinks · Order wine, not the cocktails — save those for the W Lounge on the roof across the street.
⭐ Bubbly’s rating · 4.5 / 5 — the room is a reason to walk in; the pasta is the reason to stay for dinner.

A Banking Hall Turned Dining Room

The architect F.W.M. Poggenbeek designed the KAS Bank building in 1908, and it was expanded in phases until 1932. It followed the standard layout for a bank of its time: vaults on the ground floor and in the basement, the grand banking hall one floor up, and offices above. The Duchess fills that old banking hall, which explains the height of the ceilings and the sheer size of the room. The vaults below have been put to use too, and now hold the hotel spa. The whole building is a listed national monument.

The conversion for the W was designed by the architects Baranowitz + Kronenberg and Office Winhov. In the dining room, the marble columns and the tall arched windows of the upper level are still in place. The old hall now works as three spaces in one: the restaurant, a tea room for afternoon tea, and a bar, with a long black marble counter running along one side.

Then there is the lighting. Rows of bulbs in clear glass cylinders hang from huge metal rings across the hall, and old-style lanterns sit on iron brackets along the columns. In the evening, the whole room glows a warm gold. An ornate standing clock rises from the middle of the floor, and the open kitchen sits behind glass at the far end, so the cooks are on show all evening.

The Details

The staircase up to the restaurant passes leaded-glass windows and a large photograph of a rider in a sweeping grey gown on a dark horse. It is roped off like a museum piece, with a black table of roses in front of it.

Inside, one wall is covered by a heavy curtain hung with ornate gilt frames. The images in them glow: the surface of the moon, a flock of birds in rainbow colours, a pale leaf, a hand holding a lit match, and a still life of glasses and silver plates.

What We Ate

The meal started with something we had not ordered: a golden bread roll topped with flakes of salt, and a small plate of grated tomato with a green pepper in olive oil, both on the house. To drink, we had glasses of prosecco and sparkling water for the table.

The starters came next. The prawns arrived in a shallow pool of olive oil, each one topped with a single green leaf. They were okay, but not worth €23. I have had better prawns in Madrid and other cities for much less.

The fennel and pistachio salad was shaved fennel with orange segments and a heavy dusting of ground pistachio, finished with a sprig of chervil. It was light and refreshing.

Then the pastas, which are the reason for this post. The linguine cacio e pepe took us straight back to Rome.

The hand-crafted pasta came as wide ribbons with braised short rib in a dark, glossy sauce under a drift of grated cheese. It was our favourite dish of the night.

The menu calls the risotto Ten Types of Mushroom Risotto, and I am still not sure where the ten types come in. It arrived under grated cheese and a tuft of cress, with something crisp on top for texture.

We skipped dessert and finished with tea and a flat white.

Service and Drinks

The service was nice and professional. The staff work in the polished style of a fine-dining room, so they are friendly without being overly warm. That is fine. Our water glasses were always topped up, and someone checked in regularly to ask whether we needed anything else.

The drinks were just okay, including an unusual tomato soda. Skip them if possible and order wine instead. For cocktails, the W Lounge on the roof of the Exchange building across the street is the better choice, and the mood up there is more fun and carefree.

Bubbly Tips

• Order the short rib pasta. The hand-crafted pasta with braised short rib was our favourite dish of the night, and the cacio e pepe is a close second.
• Check the bill before tipping. Our bill added a 12.5% service charge automatically.
• Hotel guests can charge dinner to their room. The bill comes with a form for your name and room number.
• Look up at the glass roof. Stained-glass panels with painted coats of arms run along the edges of the skylight.
• Order wine with dinner. Save the cocktails for the W Lounge on the roof of the Exchange, across Spuistraat.
• Try the afternoon tea on another day. The Tea Room serves Mariage Frères tea with a spread of sweets on tiered stands.
• It is a short walk from Dam Square. The restaurant is at Spuistraat 172, in the Bank building of the W Amsterdam, just behind the Royal Palace.

Final Thoughts

The Duchess looks like the kind of place where the room might outshine the food. It does not. The chandeliers and the old banking hall are a good reason to walk in, and the short rib pasta and the cacio e pepe are the reason to stay for dinner rather than a drink at the bar.

Until next time!

xoxo,
Bubbly 🎈